08-05-2025
‘We can't lose storytelling in America': DGA President Lesli Linka Glatter on bringing production to L.A.
She has one of the most impressive directing résumé in the business, with credits including Mad Men, Homeland, Justified, The Morning Show, and, most recently, Netflix's Robert De Niro-starrer Zero Day. So much so that Lesli Linka Glatter sits atop the Directors Guild as president — what she jokingly refers to her 'volunteer' job — where her current mission is to bring film and TV production back to Los Angeles. Levels have reached record lows — down 40 percent — thanks to the 'triple whammy' of COVID, the strikes, and the fallout of the recent wildfires, which claimed her own home in the Pacific Palisades as well.
'I came of age when you'd go on a studio lot, and it would be filled with productions,' says Glatter. 'And now I'm looking around now going, 'OK, there's just one or two productions here.' And that hurts our whole city.'
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Glatter, who is about to start shooting Imperfect Women in L.A. with Kerry Washington and Elisabeth Moss, spoke to Gold Derby about why she's drawn to conspiracy thrillers, her experience directing De Niro, and why she's so passionate about her advocacy work. 'One of the things that has been amazing after the fires is the incredible support of our community for one another,' says Glatter. 'I have to say, I think that our superpower in the film business is that kind of support. And now we need it to bring production back to L.A. We can't lose storytelling in America.'
How's everything going with rebuilding your home?
Thank you for asking. I think you know what a blow to our city, our community it's been. Yes, I feel horrible for myself, but it's so much bigger than one person's loss. It's the loss of the whole area, the village — and I know it's the same in Altadena. It's just so much bigger. It's so much bigger. I hate to say this by being an itinerant film worker, I'm used to going into other cities, other people's houses and having to make them my own. So I feel like I've done that very effectively in my own city, which is very odd. I'm just trying to look at what the opportunity in reinvention is in simplicity. Now I want less of everything. There's sadness and loss. And, boy, they don't make it easy for you in terms of insurance, but I'm focused on something else creatively that I try to focus on the things that are positive. … The kindness of strangers, people wanting to be there for our community in distress has been really inspiring. It's like the best part of people has come out.
With your work at the DGA, I know you're focused on bringing production back to L.A. Is there any goodwill in Washington, D.C,. as a result of the wildfires that can help in that direction?
I'm hoping so. I can't be specific. But I think there's no question that our industry is suffering, and we can't let this disappear. We've got to get these incentives. We have to keep it here at the state level and the Federal level as well. We need both. We really have to look at the big picture. We want to be sure that these incentives really promote jobs and not just help the studios and networks save money. We need them to be our partners in this.
What kind of support have you gotten from the studios and networks?
I'm going to use the show I'm on right now, Imperfect Women. I have to say, if you are in a position of power to make something stay here, that's what we need. Our actors, our directors, who are in that position to do so really spoke up. We're here because of [stars] Kerry Washington and Elizabeth Moss. That's the truth of it. And that's a huge power. That's a huge input of work into our community right now. Bravo for the two of them standing up. I'm grateful that it's shooting here, and I feel really fortunate to be shooting here and hiring a crew here. I haven't shot in L.A. in a long time, and I get to look at L.A. in a completely different light, which is very exciting.
What appealed to you about ?
Well, you know I am very interested in certain themes, and I guess I keep coming back to those themes until I work them out in my life. I'm very interested in things are not what they appear to be. You have to look deeper to see what's really going on, and people being put in extraordinary circumstances where they're forced to deal with who they really are and to have that in the guise of almost a paranoid conspiracy. A political thriller is a great vehicle to explore complicated, layered, complex characters. Let say you have a scene where two people have completely opposing views, and they're both right. I don't love white hats and black hats. I like the conversation, and to me this material, and having us look at what is truth in a post truth world felt really relevant.
As with you seem drawn to series that feel very ripped from the headlines. What are those challenges for you when it comes to putting those shows together?
Great question. I'm a big researcher, I think in a political thriller, I want it to feel realistically real. You know we did a lot of research on this, we had access to a lot of information, and we did take something that had never happened before. A 'zero day' event is a flaw in software that can be hacked and take down an entire industry. And it is the most powerful cyber weapon that the intelligence services have. If you take down power, heating in the middle of winter, you know that's a weapon — if you take down aviation, transportation, banking, Internet? What will we do when put in these situations like another 9/11. Would we behave better would we find out who is really at the bottom of this? What do people do when faced with fear like that? We're not doing a documentary; a zero day event has never happened, thank goodness. But we wanted to ask these questions, without saying who is Democrat or who is Republican. And of course, with ex-President Mullen [De Niro], we are asking questions about acuity in a leader. He's an unreliable narrator at times.
Did you have an answer into in your own mind about whether he was reliable or not?
Yes.
Care to elaborate?
You know, Proteus, which is based on the Havana syndrome, is also a real weapon that was developed. Is it dementia? Is he suffering untreated grief in his life? Probably a combination of all of that. But yes, I have an idea what happened. But I think the question mark is a good one to leave a question mark in that way.
What was it like working with Robert De Niro?
Awesome, joyful. I have to admit at first I was like, 'Oh, my God! I'm meeting a living legend.' But he's an extraordinary collaborator, a generous collaborator, so smart, so engaged. He's a wonderful actor. And he wants to be directed. The whole cast was extraordinary — it was a dream team.
As a director, what makes you say yes to a project?
Oh, that's also a great question. If I read the script and start to see it in my head and feel engaged, and I feel excited and terrified simultaneously, then I'm like I'm the right person. You know I love doing political thrillers. But I'm now doing a show that is not that at all. I always like to mix it up. I don't want to tell the same story over and over again. There are so much complexities in the human condition that there are plenty to explore. The more complex and complicated a character is, the juicier, the more there is to delve into.
Do you enjoy getting to direct the entirety of a limited series vs. just coming in for one episode?
Yes, it's a big commitment for on every level. But it feels more like doing, you know, a six-hour movie. But I love that. That's how things have broken down between TV and film. It's not about the delivery system. Yes, it's very important to keep theatrical feature films alive. But the fact that whatever length your story is, whatever way you're receiving it, whether it's on an ipad or a huge screen in a theater or a big screen in your home, it's about telling a great visual story. It's a whole other world now. And I think that's really helped both film and TV. I mean. Look at who's crossing over — Robert De Niro is doing a limited series, and I think part of that is because it's limited.
What did you take away from ?
Ask the questions, have the conversation. If we can't all agree on what is fact, it's very hard to have those conversations and the ability to hear what someone else is saying. We're at a critical point in that and looking at one's own moral compass, your own relationship with truth without being heavy-handed. It's a narrative. It's a thriller. Truth is truth, but it's not always the most important thing. I mean, everyone has a different relationship with truth and that is fascinating to me. … It's interesting to be in a world where there's a level of anxiety everywhere, where the whole world is not on solid ground. I love the idea of being in the back room of power. I want to know how decisions are made and where people's moral compass is with making that decision.
You've been a part of so many classic shows like . Are there any you would want to revisit?
I feel blessed to have been able to be part of some amazing stories, and to have been able to tell those stories. I don't know if I want to go backward. But I think there's more to explore, I love being able to do what I do. So let's just keep filmmaking here, so all of us can enjoy telling those stories and watching them.
Isn't Don Draper in L.A. now?
Exactly. [Laughs.] But I think those series are all so powerful because it really is about something in the human spirit trying to understand these complex people that we are. And to me, when you have an extraordinary environment juxtaposed with the human being you have, that's the best. It's a team sport we're in. And I've said this a billion times, we're only as good as our team. I'm not a poet sitting in a room alone. We do this job with hundreds of people. And that's an incredibly challenging and exciting thing to try to focus all of that in a single story. I've been doing this a while, and it used to be like you end a show, you have these incredibly powerful bonds with people that are all very real, and then it could be years before you see them again. It is a bit like we're in the traveling circus, and the feeling is I'm gonna see you down the road. And that happens all the time now. Our paths continue to cross, and that's the beauty of what we do.
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